Hazel Crest Officials

[WhyusLord]

I dont know who's nuts within the Village Board anymore.(See the Southtown article, even though the Southtown does not report on Hazel Crest). Vernard is questioning the Mayors mental state but i really wonder about them all. Particularly a Trustee. Why is she pushing for retired Police Badges for her 2 former insiders who went out on a disability??? That is not a retirement! That provides more than a retirement pension. Do they just want to carry a weapon? If that's the case they should still be on the job. A disability pension is a benefit earned on the backs of everybody else that puts in full time. Don't treat it as vacation. I understand each of the new board members got to pick someone for a part time job in Public Works with benefits. Nice. No budget crunch here. Pay for play??? But the picks were a disabled man, and a convicted drug dealer, for labor positions. Way to go. Are the trustees talking furlough days after all of this? How dare you! How much is being spent to move Inspectional services from the Fire Station to Village Hall? And why does the Fire Chief have to go to the Harvey fir e Dept. to find a Deputy Chief? A slap in the face to the Men of HCFD who are qualified, but not in the eyes of the Chief. Nice walking path by the Village Hall. Must be paid by the hour, LOL.

[sankofa]

WhyusLord wrote:

I dont know who's nuts within the Village Board anymore.(See the Southtown article, even though the Southtown does not report on Hazel Crest). Vernard is questioning the Mayors mental state but i really wonder about them all. Particularly a Trustee. Why is she pushing for retired Police Badges for her 2 former insiders who went out on a disability??? That is not a retirement! That provides more than a retirement pension. Do they just want to carry a weapon? If that's the case they should still be on the job. A disability pension is a benefit earned on the backs of everybody else that puts in full time. Don't treat it as vacation. I understand each of the new board members got to pick someone for a part time job in Public Works with benefits. Nice. No budget crunch here. Pay for play??? But the picks were a disabled man, and a convicted drug dealer, for labor positions. Way to go. Are the trustees talking furlough days after all of this? How dare you! How much is being spent to move Inspectional services from the Fire Station to Village Hall? And why does the Fire Chief have to go to the Harvey fir e Dept. to find a Deputy Chief? A slap in the face to the Men of HCFD who are qualified, but not in the eyes of the Chief. Nice walking path by the Village Hall. Must be paid by the hour, LOL.

The residents of Hazel Crest and the state of our Village itself, are in serious trouble. The new trustees voted onto the board and Trustee Alsberry - the Concerned Citizens Party - are clearly more concerned with seeking revenge against the mayor for personal and petty grievances, than with responsible governing of our Village. Mr. Alsberry has a lot of nerve questioning anyone's mental capacity. Although he lost his bid for the mayor's position, he believes nonetheless that he's the mayor anyway, and if you watch and listen to him closely, you would wonder about his own mental soundness. This is a man who'se used the Mayor, the residents and the Village overall to advance his political ambitions, and it doesn't matter to him who he has to step on or walk over to get to where he wants to be. Both he and Trustee Pate seek only to have power, yet neither have the intellect or the experience to bring wisdom and a sense of integrity to their governing decisions. Their questionable hiring practices are no better than their questionable firing practices. They've fired people who were assets to the Village, in respect to bringing revenues in and to their skills - and have hired people who not only cannot replace those they've fired (in skills or benefit to the Village), but who are actually a drag on the Village. Moore and Ramsey have admitted on more than one occasion that they don't have a clue about what they're doing, and Mary Grant thinks that here responsibility as the Village Clerk is to make sure the mayor knows his place! If you read her minutes, you will see that they're more of an interpretation on her part than an actual recording of what takes place. Yet, these are the people who're now making vital and long-range decisions about the fate of our Village. Their only goal seems to be to undo everything the mayor has done over the last 4 years and to "erase him" from the Village as much as possible. Meanwhile, the residents and the Village itself are losing out!

[townie]

has the fd hired a deputy fire chief yet?

[bre2x]

this is crazy. it sounds like the village government is weakening. we the people need to take it back. we need change real bad. change back to the classic clean farming values that established the town so long ago.

[Resident]

Now throw in the battling Village Attorneys. When will it stop. The new Attorney is suing! Who defends the Village against the suit????? More importantly, who get's paid? OMG! And the Fire Dept. Union is suing to stop the Fire Chief from hiring an outside Deputy Chief. It's no secret there is no love for the Chief within the F.D. Is this why he's going outside? It's also no secret the Chief wants to bring in his cronie from Harvey. Not a real reputable Department. None of this makes sense, but it's costing a bundle in legal fees. Whoever gets to collect them is unknown.

[sankofa]

The new trustees and Trustee Alsberry were not only insisting that the former attorney be present at every board meeting (at $200 an hour), but working with him in complicity outside of the purview of the Mayor to have him (the attorney) do their bidding against the Mayor. This is an attorney who's supposed to be representing the Village and who's being paid by the Village, not by the four trustees! There are suits flying all over the place as a result of the lack of knowledge and governing experience of the new trustees. Their handling of the Village personnel whom they irresponsibly fired purely for political reasons have resulted in lawsuits, as has their handling and interference in the fire and police depts. Also, it's clear that the majority trustees are working in cahoots with the fire dept. against the Fire Chief. Many of the firefighters actually campaigned for the majority trustees, walking door to door, and now it's time for payback! In fact, they made quite a few promises to quite a few people, from fire fighters to liquor store owners to day care center wannabes ... and now everyone's hand is out to collect. And the only ones left empty-handed are the residents themselves!!!

[Resident]

sankofa wrote:

The new trustees and Trustee Alsberry were not only insisting that the former attorney be present at every board meeting (at $200 an hour), but working with him in complicity outside of the purview of the Mayor to have him (the attorney) do their bidding against the Mayor. This is an attorney who's supposed to be representing the Village and who's being paid by the Village, not by the four trustees! There are suits flying all over the place as a result of the lack of knowledge and governing experience of the new trustees. Their handling of the Village personnel whom they irresponsibly fired purely for political reasons have resulted in lawsuits, as has their handling and interference in the fire and police depts. Also, it's clear that the majority trustees are working in cahoots with the fire dept. against the Fire Chief. Many of the firefighters actually campaigned for the majority trustees, walking door to door, and now it's time for payback! In fact, they made quite a few promises to quite a few people, from fire fighters to liquor store owners to day care center wannabes ... and now everyone's hand is out to collect. And the only ones left empty-handed are the residents themselves!!!

Bulls eye!

[Informed Resident]

sankofa wrote:

The new trustees and Trustee Alsberry were not only insisting that the former attorney be present at every board meeting (at $200 an hour), but working with him in complicity outside of the purview of the Mayor to have him (the attorney) do their bidding against the Mayor. This is an attorney who's supposed to be representing the Village and who's being paid by the Village, not by the four trustees! There are suits flying all over the place as a result of the lack of knowledge and governing experience of the new trustees. Their handling of the Village personnel whom they irresponsibly fired purely for political reasons have resulted in lawsuits, as has their handling and interference in the fire and police depts. Also, it's clear that the majority trustees are working in cahoots with the fire dept. against the Fire Chief. Many of the firefighters actually campaigned for the majority trustees, walking door to door, and now it's time for payback! In fact, they made quite a few promises to quite a few people, from fire fighters to liquor store owners to day care center wannabes ... and now everyone's hand is out to collect. And the only ones left empty-handed are the residents themselves!!!

Accually all of this discord and division that we are experiencing goes back further than just this last election. If you remember, when Mayor Donaldson took office there were people who campaigned for the opposition that he let go (rightfully so or not). It was then that everyone who felt that thier job was being threatened or insecure with where they stood politically started jockeying for position and plotting courses of deceit and political revenge. The Shame in all of this is that we as residents recognized it all too late or turned a blind eye to what was happening. We now have elected officials on both sides, in both parties, that because everyone wants to be king of the hill that the hil is being hammered into pebbles. We had better do something about our political environment soon or issues such as these will become a foregone conclusion.

[sankofa]

Oh! And did I mention that the Hazel Crest residents who were fired by the 4 trustees - residents who lived in Hazel Crest and took pride in their work because they were serving the community in which they and their families live - were replaced by people who DO NOT live in Hazel Crest. In fact, one gentlemen who lives in Hazel Crest was volunteering his time and talent to teach the seniors computers. He too was "fired!"

[sankofa]

The elderly gentleman who was volunteering in teaching computers to the seniors took so much pride in his work. Knowing that he was doing something useful and productive, while at the same time contributing to his community, made him feel so good about himself and about his fellow residents as well. Prior to his involvement with the seniors, he had been a quiet gentleman who kept to himself, but that all changed as he began to feel what we all need to feel, which is that he was needed. And then, along came the new board, and after a few weeks, even he was told that he didn't have to come back! They would use one of "their people" to do what he was doing!!! I have not seen the gentleman since. This is just one example of what this new board is all about! They are all about themselves, and not at all about the integrity of our Village.

[OMG]

Well, the foot dropped. At the Board Meeting last Tuesday night, a Cook County Sheriff's Deputy showed up to serve members of the Citizens Party with the lawsuit filed by Mayor Donaldson. There is no end in sight. The way I figure this is the Village will have to pay all the legal fee's because they are all Board members. Wow is this going to cost. But the real question is which Attorney is going to represent them. Murphy for the Citizens Party and the new guy for the Doctor??? They really should quit. Pate is just in it for spite. The others are just there as a vote. How embarassing.

[sankofa]

Actually, my two posts above were addendums to a more in-depth comment that apparently didn't get posted (maybe it was too long).

But in response to Informed Resident: The discord and division that you speak of began when Mayor Donaldson came into office, but it wasn't Mayor Donaldson who instigated it. It was the same people who're now sitting on the Village Board and their friends who rejected Donaldson because he had defeated Bill Browne. It was at that point that they began their campaign against Donaldson, dividing the community and creating discord among the residents for the sole purpose of underming Mayor Donaldson by any means necessary.

When Mayor Donaldson took office, not one employee was FIRED. Robin Bair left because her position was downgraded, and others chose to leave as well, because they were making a political statement. In fact, it was because the police chief and several officers left together that the Mayor was forced to find an interim chief of police at short notice. Not only did Mayor Donaldson not fire anyone, but he also created jobs for residents, something that had not been done by any of the previous board presidents.

Contrary to Mayor Donaldson, Vernard Alsberry and the new trustees who had already created a climate of discord and division among the residents, FIRED five employees, including three residents. Those who were replaced, were replaced by people who don't even live in Hazel Crest!!!! As a consequence of these firings, the village has lost money, we've lost infrastructure development, we've lost quality cable productions, we've lost substantive community events that created a foundation of unity among the residents, and we've even lost the engagement and enthusiasm of the residents themselves. Also, as a direct consequence of the lack of knowledge and understanding of Trustee Alsberry and the new trustees, and the reckless way in which they have mismanaged their responsibilties to the Village (putting personal vendettas and power grabs over performance), for the first time in five years, our property taxes will now be increased.

Maybe now the residents will start paying attention!